Politics. Sex. Science. Art. You know, the good stuff.

Stephanie Zvan is an analyst by trade, but she's paid not to talk about it. She is also one of the hosts for the Minnesota Atheists' radio show and podcast, Atheists Talk. She speaks on science and skepticism in a number of venues, including science fiction and fantasy conventions.

Stephanie has been called a science blogger and a sex blogger, but if it means she has to choose just one thing to be or blog about, she's decided she's never going to grow up. In addition to science and sex and the science of sex, you'll find quite a bit of politics here, some economics, a regular short fiction feature, and the occasional bit of concentrated weird.

Oh, and arguments. She sometimes indulges in those as well. But I'm sure everything will be just fine. Nothing to worry about. Nothing at all.

Categories

EVENTS

An Auspicious Beginning

There’s this idea the slimepitters are trying to promote that they’re thinking seriously about acting like civilized human beings. One example in the wild:

Actually we started having that conversation days ago. Scroll down and you see see one slimepitter annoyed with another about “cleaning up our act”. This was July 1st. and the conversation started before that.

Not surprising it started before that. I sent Seed Media a letter on June 28.

I know that Seed Media has previously been made aware of the four comment threads at ERV that are in gross violation of the ScienceBlogs code of conduct. I know that they were made aware of the problems in these threads quite some time ago. I have been patient in waiting for Seed to live up to the commitments it has made to the public and to other individuals. I’m not patient anymore.

I sincerely hope that talking about this publicly will be enough to finally get someone at your network to take some responsibility for it. I don’t want to have to take this further, but I will do what I have to do.

It was exactly my intent, and the intent of people pressuring Russell Blackford and others, to cut off all social support for that inexcusable behavior. Credit for that working, to whatever extent it does, goes to the people setting these limits (yes, me included), not to anyone in the slime pit. That thing has been festering for a year unchecked.

In case you have any doubts about that, well, someone sent me a link to the new slime pit today.

Good to see the people behind the place have changed so. And how does the rest of the crew feel?

Is this place going to be:

Our new shiny friendly home, with a significant attempt at cleaner language and less invective. (2 votes)

A place to just carry on exactly as before, but in a location that won’t hurt Abbie. (8 votes)

Sort of both – pull back just a bit on language and whatnot to not make us enemies of those who would be our allies. (7 votes)

There seems to be a glimmer from within that the behavior in which has been so heartily engaged is hurting people (well, one person). Way too little, way too late? Yes. But, it’s something to point to when the claim is launched yet again that it’s all just a really special joke that nobody gets but them.

So…this is the same “slimepit” that Justicar was earlier claiming to be a derogatory reference to Abbie Smith’s vagina? Funny a group “cleaning up their act” like this wouldn’t want to remove such a gendered slur from their very masthead.

I’ve been lurking and observing Abbie Smith’s unprofessional, dishonest, misogynistic, harassing behavior for about a year now. Thank you for the work you have done on behalf of her many victims. If Abbie is invited to speak for an event sponsored by a group I belong to, I will alert them to her history. If she is not disinvited, I will quit the group. I may not be able to stop her vitriol, but unlike Justin Griffith, I *refuse* to support it.

You’re sure trying hard to censor these people. I’m guessing you, being an unbiased freethinker, apply the same standard of censoring when confronted with abuse around your midst, especially when the abuse is a genuine malicious clear-as-day threat.

So…this is the same “slimepit” that Justicar was earlier claiming to be a derogatory reference to Abbie Smith’s vagina? Funny a group “cleaning up their act” like this wouldn’t want to remove such a gendered slur from their very masthead.

I agree it says a lot. However, what you apparently missed was that was that while it was recognized as some intended it to be a derogatory reference to Abbie Smith’s vagina, the other side did not care, hence no outrage, just amusement at the inherent sexism and a lack of introspection that would have prevented yet another example of ironic hypocrisy.

In short, it is “your” problem, not ours, and because so many of us are amused, not offended at the self parody, it has been adopted.

I did not get the impression that Justicar was being anything other than himself when he pointed it out. But you would be well advised to ask him yourself rather than take my word for it.

In any event, when the people who do this sort of thing, belong to the same camp that proclaims themselves arbiters of “decent human beings”, quite frankly it reduces me to girlish giggling and /facepalm IRL, because they have previously demonstrated that they are not qualified for the position.

Furthermore, the phrase in itself because of the way it has been used, is currently devoid of meaning except as means of status signalling, and is treated as such.

In the end, there will be some changes. I believe for instance that people will stop mocking OB over her ladyparts because there are some signs that she has jumped the tracks over it.

Speaking for myself, I do not believe in torture and I have asked that we stop. I could be wrong, but I believe most have bought into the idea for one reason or another, not to continue mocking her in this manner.

What will not change however, is when people like RahXephon come over to argue in good faith, he will not be subjected to the type of abuse the FftB routinely dish out.

The intellectual mouth breathers among you will have to take their chances however. While I take no pleasure in beating up cripples myself, and thus generally refrain from doing so, I can not speak for others.

I think part of the reason why this new leaf bs doesn’t sit well with me is that there wasnever a counter campaign or admonishment of the behavior outside of the circles being targetted by it. The only people who said or tried to do anything were the people being harassed and abused by them.

Some pretended to care (Stangroom with his near non existent condemnation) and others objected while eagerly trying to tear down those pushing back (Blackford) but no one really tried to stop it. They let it happen and egged it on with no concern for the people hurt or marginalized by all the abuse.

Because the skeptic community’s response was never there and because there will never be anymore than a shrug over all of it, I’m never going to look at this ERV affair without feeling disgust. ERV and the community as a whole lost me.

((I get that doesn’t mean anything. I’m nobody the atheist/skeptic community would care about. No college, degree or deap philosophical musings. But like with the US gov’t, I can at least voice my displeasure and reasons for the fuck you on my door.))

Another example of status signalling, rendering not only the word itself, but whatever else the person had to say empty and devoid of any other meaning, other than indicators of troop social activities such as grooming.

Another example of status signalling, rendering not only the word itself, but whatever else the person had to say empty and devoid of any other meaning, other than indicators of troop social activities such as grooming.

Although it has been otherwise stated in a couple of places at FfTB, no, the Slyme Pit will not be making forums viewable only to select members; will not be editing, deleting, or otherwise playing with posted reality; will not try to build false consensus and/or historical revision through thread restructuring and unethical editorial practices — contra the Truthiness of FfTB.

This was written at 1:43 July 04 (I’ve screen capped in case it’s been disappeared by the time you see this in your spam filter trap)

Link: slymepit.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=37#p195

Contrast that against these:

John Greg @ 3:38 pm July 04 –

Hmm. Well, that’s a bit of a tough call. But, we are operating on the honour system, aren’t we? Yes, someone might go in and edit a post to make themselves look better, but at the same time, editing a post for mistakes, honest mistakes, can be pretty important. But then abuse might happen….

In a sense, I see not allowing editing to in itself be a sort of administrative form of censorship.

So, 2 hours after he assures the world you’re ‘stating otherwise’ that editing, and deletion and the like won’t be taking place, two hours later he writes that he views not being able to edit his posts as censorship.

But that he’s going wait to be convinced. Note that first statement necessarily has dictate his later statement, for he’d already made the statement it would *not* be happening there.

And this from the FNG (who’s now apparently the boss there):

I’ve already done a poll on the Karma/Like question, and I MAY do one on editing. I’m not sure I’m so concerned about deleting – a way to handle that would be to forbid users from deleting, but allow mods to do so.

In effect, a user could delete a post by editing its content or sense out of existence, but that would be pretty apparent.

Link: slymepit.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=45

This is a show of good faith I’m attempting to make in the spirit of the de-escalation of last week.

Accept that it is that or do not, but either way feel free to cite me as the ‘source’, for I want it known that the group that has formed anew is one I also oppose. I’m still opposed to a lot of things here, but that’s an entirely different matter.

I just want it publicly known that I am quite deliberately not part of that place.

On the off chance you don’t actually check your spam, I’m going to send this to Ophelia as well.

throwaway: somewhat bad form to post that without also noting that Abbie made that statement in the heat of the moment in response to a snarky post from Jen McCreight, fully owned up to it, publically stated that she regretted making it and offered up a full, unconditional apology.

I just want it publicly known that I am quite deliberately not part of that place.

It had occurred to me that you had not shown up and I was wondering why.

In any event, the edit issue is a serious one. I had expected it to be turned off. Leaving it on, while convenient to fix punctuation etc. lays every single article and comment open to integrity questions. I believe this is a bad idea.

Trackbacks

[…] bosses(and I use the term loosely) there that the threads violate their terms of service and me writing one letter to the same effect after pointing out that these threads were being used to defame and stalk me, including the posting […]